Refracted Equilibrium

The morning sun shifted across the balcony floorboards. I located a dry pine needle and an empty clear glass droplet bottle beside the terracotta planter. Positioning the cylindrical vial on its side along a weathered wood grain seam, I tested its roll tolerance. It wobbled, then rested. Using both distal phalanges, I balanced the pine needle horizontally across the smooth glass curvature, establishing a delicate perpendicular cross. A sudden thermal draft threatened the balance; rather than grasping it, I lowered my center of mass into a static squat, shielding the assembly with my rib cage. The needle swayed four degrees, then stabilized. Equilibrium holds under observation.